Neoplasia is characterized by deregulated cell growth and division. Inevitably, molecular pathways controlling cell growth must interact with those regulating cell division. It was not until very recently, however, that experimental evidence became available to bring such connection to light. Cyclin A was found in association with the adenovirus oncoprotein E1A in virally transformed cells (Giordona et al. Cell 58:981 (1989); and Pines et al. Nature 346:760 (1990)). The cell-cycle gene implicated most strongly in oncogenesis thus far is the human cyclin D1. It was originally isolated through genetic complementation of yeast G1 cyclin deficient strains (Xiong et al. Cell 65:691 (1991); and Lew et al. Cell 66:1197 (1991)), as cellular genes whose transcription is stimulated by CSF-1 in murine macrophages (Matsushine et al. Cell 65:701 (1991)) and in the putative oncogene PRAD1 rearranged in parathyroid tumors (Montokura et al. Nature 350:512 (1991).
However, the creation of a mutant onocogene is only one of the requirements needed for tumor formation; tumorigenesis appears to also require the additional inactivation of a second class of critical genes: the “anti-oncogenes” or “tumor-suppressing genes.” Tumor suppressor genes are a family of genes that negatively regulate cell growth and are lost or inactivated in most cancers. In their natural state these genes act to suppress cell proliferation. Damage to such genes leads to a loss of this suppression, and thereby results in tumorigenesis. Thus, the deregulation of cell growth may be mediated by either the activation of oncogenes or the inactivation of tumor-suppressing genes (Weinberg, R. A., (September 1988) Scientific Amer. pp 44–51).
Oncogenes and tumor-suppressing genes have a basic distinguishing feature. The oncogenes identified thus far have arisen only in somatic cells, and thus have been incapable of transmitting their effects to the germ line of the host animal. In contrast, mutations in tumor-suppressing genes can be identified in germ line cells, and are thus transmissible to an animal's progeny.
The classic example of a hereditary cancer is retinoblastomas in children. The incidence of the retinoblastomas is determined by a tumor suppressor gene, the retinoblastoma (RB) gene (Weinberg, R. A., (September 1988) Scientific Amer. pp 44–51; Hansen et al. (1988) Trends Genet 4:125–128). Individuals born with a lesion in one of the RB alleles are predisposed to early childhood development of retinoblastomas. Inactivation or mutation of the second RB allele in one of the somatic cells of these susceptible individuals appears to be the molecular event that leads to tumor formation (Caveneee et al. (1983) Nature 305:799–784; Friend et al. (1987) PNAS 84:9059–9063).
The RB tumor-suppressing gene has been localized onto human chromosome 13. The mutation may be readily transmitted through the germ line of afflicted individuals (Cavenee, et al. (1986) New Engl. J. Med 314:1201–1207). Individuals who have mutations in only one of the two naturally present alleles of this tumor-suppressing gene are predisposed to retinoblastoma. Inactivation of the second of the two alleles is, however, required for tumorigenesis (Knudson (1971) PNAS 68:820–823).
A second tumor-suppressing gene is the p53 gene (Green (1989) Cell 56:1–3; Mowat et al (1985 Nature 314:633–636). The protein encoded by the p53 gene is a nuclear protein that forms a stable complex with both the SV40 large T antigen and the adenovirus E1B 55 kd protein. The p53 gene product may be inactivated by binding to these proteins.
Based on cause and effect analysis of p53 mutants, the functional role of p53 as a “cell-cycle checkpoint”, particularly with respect to controlling progression of a cell from G1 phase into S phase, has implicated p53 as able to directly or indirectly affect cycle cyle machinery. The first firm evidence for a specific biochemical link between p53 and the cell-cycle comes a finding that p53 apparently regulates expression of a second protein, p21, which inhibits cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) needed to drive cells through the cell-cycle, e.g. from G1 into S phase. For example, it has been demonstrated that non-viral transformation, such as resulting at least in part from a mutation of deletion of of the p53 tumor suppressor, can result in loss of p21 from cyclin/CDK complexes. As described by Xiong et al. (1993) Nature 366:701–704, induction of p21 in response to p53 represents a plausible mechanism for effecting cell-cycle arrest in response to DNA damage, and loss of p53 may deregulate growth by loss of the p21 cell-cycle inhibitor.
More recently, researchers discovered yet another tumor suppressing gene, p73, which closely resembles p53. Not only does this protein bear a strong structural identity with p53, it also possess similar functional attributes. For instance, this protein disclosed the growth-inhibiting and apoptosis promoting effects, it triggered p21 production, suggesting thereby that it inhibited cell growth through the same pathway as that used by p53. Here, we describe the discovery of a novel family of cell regulatory genes, the p-63 family, which exhibits considerable sequence identity with p53 and and p73, and appears to possess similar functional attributes.